Lafarge Egypt Marks Success of First Phase of Vocational Safety and Health Program in Suez

Lafarge Egypt Marks Success of First Phase of Vocational Safety and Health Program in Suez

01.10.2017

Cairo, Egypt; August 30, 2017 - Lafarge Egypt, a member of LafargeHolcim, celebrated the success of the first phase of Lafarge Vocational Safety and Health program, which aims at developing vocational education in Suez in cooperation with the Governorate's leaders. A ceremony to mark the occasion was held at the Hotel and Tourism school in Suez on Sunday 27, August with the attendance of Mr. Ahmed El Geyoushy, Deputy Minister of Education for Vocational Training, and a number of officials and project beneficiaries.

As part of its Corporate Social Responsibility, Lafarge, in cooperation with Suez Technical Education Directorate, launched its Vocational Safety and Health Program in 2016 to raise awareness about health and safety measures among technical schools students in order to help them protect themselves and provide them with the necessary skills to join the workforce as well as bridge the gap between their education and the job market requirements.

The program targeted the educational curriculum in Suez Governorate and extended to train more than 70 teachers in its first stage. Later on, more than 11,500 technical school students in Suez received the training. The last phase of the program ended with a school competition in which 534 students from 12 schools participated, showcasing their ideas through several creative activities all focussing on entrenching the principle of safety and health in their minds.

"We are proud of our cooperation with the Suez Governorate and the Technical Education Directorate on this program, among other previous projects," said Samar Raouf, Head of Communication and Sustainable Development at Lafarge Egypt. "We are glad that both students and teachers were able to benefit from the program and we surely hope to further develop it to help increase awareness about safety and health basics to minimize the risks faced by industrial sector workers," she added. "We launched the program stemming from our belief in the important role the private sector in general and Lafarge Egypt in particular should play to serve communities they operate in."

Engineer Ahmed El Geyoushy praised Lafarge Egypt's successful experience in helping educate workers on protecting their safety and health, along with the efforts made by the private sector, in equipping students of technical schools with the necessary tools in order for them to avoid industrial risks.

Lafarge conducted a job market assessment back in 2015 to further understand the job market needs. The field research was implemented in coordination with the Industrial Sector and the Technical Vocational Authority in Suez, as well as the vocational school teachers. The assessment identified safety and health as critical challenges, and that's when Lafarge seized the opportunity to provide intensive training in safety industrial topics through integrating the concept in schools' curriculums.